1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to computer apparatus and, in a preferred embodiment thereof, more particularly relates to docking station apparatus and associated methods for operatively coupling a portable computer, such as a notebook computer, to desktop peripheral devices such as a keyboard and mouse.
2. Description of Related Art
The increasingly popular notebook computer continues to undergo various design changes that make it smaller, lighter and, from a performance standpoint, more powerful. The intent of these design changes has been to make the notebook computer even more suitable for its "on the road" applications away from the office or home settings which are the traditional realms of considerably larger desktop computer systems.
Despite the continuing design effort to make notebook computers even more mobile, surveys indicate that notebook users spend approximately three quarters of their working time in their office environment. Because notebook computers are optimized for portability, their use in an office environment is compromised by some of the very features valued in mobility.
For example, one conventional approach to using a notebook computer in an office desktop environment is to dock the notebook to a minimal base which provides connectivity, with the user utilizing the docked notebook computer much as he would "on the road"--i.e., using the keyboard, input device and display built into the notebook computer. Unfortunately, the keyboard size/feel and the input device (usually a pointing stick or a touch pad) incorporated in many modern notebook computers have, as mentioned above, been optimized for mobility. This leads to a less than ideal office implementation where the notebook computer is typically used for lengthy work and computing periods. Simply stated, the utilization of the larger desktop keyboard and pointing device (typically a mouse) are usually considered more comfortable and easier to use for extended in-office work periods.
Thus, an office user interested in a more optimized implementation of a notebook computer typically utilizes full-sized desktop keyboard and mouse, and an external monitor, with his docked notebook computer. As is well known, this conventional hybrid portable/desktop approach to office computing tasks can undesirably take up a considerable amount of valuable desktop work space. In the past, this clutter has been mitigated somewhat by placing a monitor support over the expansion base to which the notebook computer is docked, allowing the user to support the external monitor directly over the docked computer. However, as external monitors continue to grow in both size and weight, this stacking of the monitor and docking base becomes a less and less attractive solution to the desktop clutter problem.
In view of the foregoing it can readily be seen that a need exists for improved, space-saving apparatus and methods for utilizing a portable notebook computer in conjunction with desktop peripheral devices in a desktop work environment. It is to this need that the present invention is directed.